Scary WiFi TV launch by Sharp – spectrum congestion looms?

At first thought, you might ask yourself what's so clever about "wireless TV"? - hasn't TV been broadcast for decades? Yes - but this one is a WiFi wireless TV, from Sharp... and you can bet it will swamp the channels.

The new product is just an LCD 15-inch screen, with a WiFi radio in it. It uses standard 802.11b LAN technology to link the battery-powered display to what is, effectively, a digital sender - but where most digital senders use the 2.4 GHz frequency band on a broadband link, this one uses standard WLAN technology.

The set uses Sharp's SmartLink wireless digital audio video transmission system, which operates on the 802.11b wireless standard. It allows users to connect the transmitter to a video source, such as a DVD player, and watch their favourite movie or TV show in any room of the house.

Some will probably be pleased to see digital sending move from broad spectrum coverage to a WiFi channel, leaving the other channels open for data; but the reality is that streaming video over one channel will pretty much halve the data capacity of the access point.

The new Wireless AQUOS Television is the model LC-15L1U-S and it has a rechargeable battery "with enough power to watch up to three hours of TV without interruption."

It's a lovely design, but that design doesn't come cheap: priced (US) at $1,799.00 ..."if Sir has to ask the price, Sir probably can't afford it" seems to be the rule. And it doesn't ship till next January.

You can read more about "the new, sleek, silver design" and so on, on the press release on the corporate web site for the US division. No news yet about European launch plans.